


Thrown into the Fray

by Mdk103



Series: Familial Secrets [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bird!Ruby, F/M, Faunus Ruby Rose (RWBY), Faunus Summer Rose, Multi, Qrow Branwen is Ruby Rose's Parent, Summer Rose (RWBY) Lives, slowburn ships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26121412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mdk103/pseuds/Mdk103
Summary: The sequel to Echoes of the Past, the journey to Mistral is done for RNJR, but even in times of rest: the gods have their own plans for our heroes.
Relationships: Jaune Arc/Ruby Rose, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Qrow Branwen/Summer Rose
Series: Familial Secrets [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1896646
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	1. Huntresses & Stowaways

* * *

The Evernight Castle loomed ominously above as the woman gripped her weapons, a pair of sickles. The castle was in a rough shape having lasted well longer than most documented writings did. The woman's white cloak brushed in the breeze, a trail of white petals slowly dripped from the tailend.

A snarl came from behind her and without hesitation the woman swung with a heavy heave. Her sickle landed effortlessly into the creature's skull as it faded into a black dust. The woman could only smirk as she saw she had now realized she was surrounded by more of the creature. _Grimm._ Boney features adored their faces as if masks marred with red, the color of blood.

But these beasts didn't have blood, or at least if they did, it turned to dust when they died. Another of the beasts growled and lunged at the woman only to be shot down mid flight by the woman's sniper rifle. The Creep growled as it charged once more at the woman only to be thrown off the cliff by the woman's sickles once it got too close.

The woman snickered to herself, some would say she's mad for being out here. Perhaps she was mad. She turned back at the shadow cast on her by the towers of the castle. She knew two people who would call this a suicide mission. She knew she couldn't fail it, not when the lives of thousands rested on her shoulders.

She took one last look at the Grimm approaching her and sighed. She focused back on the castle and her eyes closed. With a soft hum she reopened them at the base of the castle; far away from the Grimm that had been chasing her.

The woman in the white cloak looked at the door in front of her. She _needed_ to do this. Not for herself but for her family, her _daughter._ She would not let this endless slaughter last one more decade. _It ended today._ With one heave she opened the door, the door to her disappearance.

Summer Rose had thrown herself into the fray.

* * *

Summer Rose awoke from her dream in a cold sweat, that dream-no nightmare had been tormenting her for the whole trip to Menagerie. Her eyes darted to her window. It was sunset out, and that meant the chefs were going to make dinner soon, or well, Breakfast for her and some of the other faunus on the ship.

Summer looked over herself as she slowly got out of the bed, that memory haunted her ever since the Vytal Festival. The idea of _her_ stringing everything to go wrong? Of course it would bring back memories of Summer's failed attempt. There would be no way she would ever fully make it up to Qrow after that. She sighed as she went to take a shower for the night. She was paying her ticket back after the captain had seen her and asked for her services as a huntress to the crew of the ship for the trip, seeing most of the crew was either human or diurnal faunus.

She rubbed the back of her ears as she put on a set of clothes she had bought in Vale. She opened the door and started to walk towards the stairs. Her room was at the other end of the ship to the dining room so it was a bit of a walk. Little kids ran past her and it just put a frown on her face as she walked up the stairs. She missed Ruby. An arm stopped her, she looked up to the captain standing there.

"Have a bad night?" The Captain said, holding out a mug. "You want this? Just got this from the dining room. It's just a mug of Hot Chocolate."

Summer just looked at him, a little confused. "Why do you have this?"

The captain just smiled. "Oh, I was gonna check up on you, we're about to go around the southern tip of Anima." The captain paused, as he thought for a moment. "I'm not sure if you knew but the reefs down here are known for a lot of air and sea Grimm. I came to make sure our local huntress was up for the job of guarding tonight."

Summer smiled as she took the mug. "Thank you again, for offering me the job for the voyage."

"You're welcome, I saw your weapon and had to ask, Miss." The Captain smiled as he turned to go take a walk. "Have a good rest of the day, Miss."

Summer just smiled as she took a sip as she walked to the dining room. Eventually she got a platter of carbonara pasta, known on ships as one of the best meals for diurnal dinners and nocturnal breakfasts. Summer sat down and started to eat her pasta, focusing on staring out of the window watching the ocean waves bounce up and down, some splashing high enough to hit the window. She just sat there and wondered how the night would go.

* * *

Blake stood at the railing on an upper deck of the ship, she didn't really realize what time it was, just around sunset. She didn't really know how long she had been on the ship, but that's one thing with ships, every day blended together when they weren't in port. She had run from Vale on the first ship to Menagerie, however that had taken a day or so, seeing as even before the Fall, there was one monthly service to Menagerie from Vale.

Days had turned into weeks on the vessel, and while she wasn't seasick, she did want to arrive in Menagerie already, when a voice almost appeared out of nowhere. "Traveling alone?" Blake turned to the voice, a hand already out holding Gambol Shroud at the ready. Blake gasped when she realized she had pulled out her weapon at the captain, who now had reassuringly put his arms up to show he wasn't a threat. "Whoa now now, I don't mean any harm. I just want to chat."

Blake slowly lowered Gambol Shroud down as she rolled her eyes and relaxed a little, her other hand on the railing. "And why is that?"

The captain returned the gesture as he put both of his hands on the railing then turned his head to her. "Well, not many people travel by boat on their own. It can be quite a lonely voyage. But I found those that do tend to have the more... interesting stories."

Blake just turned to look out to sea, trying to take in the smells of the seas over the smells of the food he had on him, he likely had just come from the dining room. "Maybe it's just... better for some people to be alone." she paused to think for a moment. Visions flashed in her brain of people who strayed too close to her, they all paid in one way or another. A bump and the sounds of children caught her attention off guard. She turned to them seeing them run off, only blinking as the captain laughed before taking the time to reply.

"Maybe, but with your paranoia, I think a few friendly faces wouldn't hurt."

"Who said I'm paranoid!" Blake shouted, turning to him, her amber eyes just staring at the elderly gentleman next to her.

The captain laughed for a moment before he answered. "No one, dear, no one. I'll leave you be." He started to walk away towards the back of the ship when he stopped. "But uh, fair warning: these trips can be awfully boring." With that he left to do other things on the ship.

Blake stood by herself again. She _was_ alone, he had not been wrong about that. She looked up for a moment as she grabbed her ribbon with a hum. She untied it looking at it for a moment. It held a lot to her, having been a huge part in concealing her true self at Beacon. "I guess I won't be needing this anymore." Blake said to herself as she let go of it, allowing the wind to pick it up and gently float it down to the waters below.

Blake stood there for a few more minutes; soaking in the sunset as it rolled in around her, the once blue skies turning to bright pinks and oranges. As she started to walk away her ear twitched, and not in the good way. She turned back to see a robed figure standing on the deck above her; clearly _watching_ her. She pulled out Gambol Shroud and pointed it up at the figure. "Who's there?!" She shouted as the figure only ran from her sight. She sighed to herself, not like there was anywhere but somewhere on the ship the figure could go, they were stuck on it… like her.

A sudden shake to the ship caused her to look out to the ocean surrounding them. She could wait on this figure another time. The sounds of more waves splashing were ignored as the shadow of an enormous Grimm arose from the waters below. Blake was stunned, a Sea Feilong. A powerful Grimm known to destroy full ships was staring right at her as it roared.

One of the ship crews on the decks saw it as well as Blake's ears hurt by the sudden shouting of "Red Alert!" coming from above her. Suddenly the whole ship was beeping as the ship's crews hurried to rush into action.

The captain had returned to Blake's side as he looked at the ship. "By the gods, I've only seen Sea Feilongs in drawings." He focused up to the upper deck, where another crew member was standing. "Everyone to their battle stations! Get that Huntress up here right now!"

The crew member returned the shouting. "Sir! We've never fought a Grimm this big!"

The captain only kept staring down the Sea Feilong. "We've never seen something this big! But we'll give 'er a fight nonetheless!"

Blake leaped into action, not wanting to wait for the other Huntress on board. No, she might not have had a full hunting license, but she was still able to fight. She jumped, forcing herself to use her semblance to propel her even further towards the beast. Gambol Shroud made contact with the boney figure as she wrapped around, shooting the Sea Feilong as she landed back on the ship. The main cannon had already been loaded and fired, shooting the Sea Feilong far back as the other cannons fired as well.

With a groan, the beast screamed as a pair of wings sprouted. Blake looked helplessly as a wave of air slid her back, she had taken a bad landing strategy and her left arm hurt. She only watched as the Feilong started to charge up for an attack. Where was that huntress they had yelled- "Hey!" Blake's thoughts were interrupted as a figure used her head as a stepping stone, causing her to yell out. She looked up to see it was the robed figure, and within seconds the figure discarded it's robe. It wasn't a huntress, no Blake knew who it was once she saw their semblance and yellow monkey tail. "Sun?!"

"Not today pal!" Sun's voice came from the beast as he pulled the beast's blast way from the ship and out to sea.

"What are you doing?"

Sun's answer to that question was rough as the Feilong flew around the ship, trying to shake him off. "Oh you know, just _hanging_ around!" The beast eventually shocked him, and he started plummeting towards the rocks. Blake threw Gambol Shroud around the ship and started to aim towards the rocks. She caught Sun with a hard slam as they landed on the rocks. "My hero."

Blake thought about dropping him onto the rock right then, but decided to shout instead. "You're not supposed to be here!"

To her shock, Sun fired right back. "Yeah!? Well, it looks like you can use all the help you can get!"

Blake rolled her eyes as she grunted. "Ugh, I don't have time for this." Blake just dropped him right there. "Just shut up and…" Blake trailed off to see the Feilong had turned to them and was charging an attack aimed right at them.

 _Bang._ The beast turned its attention away from the duo and back at the screeched in pain from the sniper shot. The beast turned to face this new foe and started to fly back, only for Blake to hatch a ride on its back, followed by Sun on the tail. Blake used the time to stab and fire at the back of the Feilong, which Sun got the hint to as they landed on the ship. The beast came back around for a full frontal attack, as it blasted, Sun twirled his staff to absorb the damage and deflect it into the ship, directly damaging the main cannon.

"Huntsmen!" The captain came running out of the cabin. "If you can clip its wings and draw it out towards the bow, we could take it!"

Blake looked to the Huntress, who had finally arrived it seemed. Blake then turned to Sun, as the huntress spoke up. "Right, I see you've got a sword, I've got two sickles, we can try to get both wings at the same time. I saw you two earlier with those clones, get yourselves up there and hold it still for a few seconds. I'll be up to help then!"

Both Blake and Sun turned and nodded in response to the huntress. Sun twirled Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang around, as he saw the beast about to charge another beam attack. "It's now or never!"

Sun activated his semblance to spawn some clones and got to work lifting himself and then Blake upwards to focus on the Grimm at hand. As Blake was sent up by the third clone he laughed and opened his arms up, only to be confused as Blake jumped on his head this time to twist around to face the Grimm.

The beast was starting to fire it's blasts but as she dodged them, Blake thought she saw a trail of rose petals starting at where the Huntress was. _There was no way Ruby was on the ship, right?_ Blake thought to herself as she pulled out Gambol Shroud to slash the one of the wing, while she saw the Huntress was making quick work, having slammed into a center point of the other wing and was pulling down on two sections of the other wing with her sickles.

Eventually, Blake fell off the Grimm and started to fall, only to be caught by Sun. The rocks under Sun cracked heavily from the impact as he smirked mischievously. "This is where you say it." Sun then closed his eyes and waited for it. Blake rolled her eyes and sighed as they turned to see the Huntress had moved from the wing of the beast to between the horns of the Feilong, forcing it to move around trying to shake her off. The ship had caught up and the Huntress forcefully had the ship ram right through the Feilong twice. The Grimm squealed in pain as it's eyes were slashed by the Huntress's sickles and it started to fade. The Huntress slowly landed softly on the bow, the sounds of the ship cheering caused them all to smile, they had won the fight. Sun let go of Blake once the ship came close to the rocks and they got back on board, to continue the journey. Blake was a little puzzled as the Huntress had disappeared on them, only a single white rose petal stood in the place where the Huntress had stood.

"Ehhh?" Blake's attention had returned to Sun who was smiling very happily with a hand raised. "High five!" Blake only glared at him to make him stop but he only replied by going "Ehhh?" once more and wiggling his hand. Blake cried out in frustration as the sound of a loud slap could be heard around most of the deck.

* * *

Night settled in quickly on the ship as the duo rested on the railings. Blake was tired of all of the 'thank you's and compliments she was getting, but Sun was soaking them all in. Blake just stared out into the waters, watching the waves muddle up the reflection of their shattered moon. Her mind drifted back for some reason to that white rose petal, which had turned into dust after a few minutes, not unlike Ruby's own rose petals. What she did not need was a reminder of Ruby, which reminded her of the rest of the team she had failed to protect.

"Seriously!" a voice cut her out of staring mindlessly at the moon's reflection as Blake turned to see Sun backing up to her. "It was no problem, we were glad to help! Just enjoy the rest of the journey and it'll all be cool. We got this!" He turned around to stand next to her as she noticed a couple of faunus waving as they left to go back inside. "Sheesh, you'd think they'd never seen a fight before, Blake." Sun spoke as he stuck his left hand back with his thumb clearly trying to point at the couple .

Blake's response was cold. "What are you doing here, Sun?" She just glared right at his sky blue eyes.

Sun just smiled. "I really like your outfit, it's the same one you wore that night we fought that paladin right?" Sun pointed his hand up to her ears. "Never really did like the bow though."

Blake swatted at the finger and dragged the arm down. "Sun, have you been following me?!"

Sun was taken aback by his looks. "I… saw you run off. The night Beacon fell." Blake gasped a little but Sun kept going. "I was at the hospital getting checked up on when I saw you and your team arrive in that ungodly looking camo bus. Even with your condition, you made sure that your team was safe. Then you took off without a word."

Blake slowly moved to look over the railing, quite saddened by Sun's words. "I had to. You wouldn't understand why."

Sun sighed as he joined her. "I don't, you're right about that Blake. I have a few ideas but… they're all silly really. But once I saw you leave, I told Neptune to be safe with the team and followed you, to make sure you were safe. I knew they would be fine once they landed back in Mistral."

Blake smiled a little, she wouldn't admit it, but Sun had tried to be a leader for once, making her a little proud, at least he understood her for once as well. "So, why do you think I'm on this boat?"

"It's simple! You're going to Menagerie to go on a one-woman rampage against the White Fang!"

All happiness in Blake's face dropped instantly as she stared in disbelief at him, her ears curled down in anger. "What?!"

"I'm serious! You always felt like the Fang was your fight. They show up, trash _your_ school, hurt _your_ friends. It makes perfect sense!" Sun had counted up the times the White Fang had messed up her life since they had met. "In my time knowing you, they've messed up your life three different times!"

"I can't believe you." Blake slowly replied, facepalming before shaking her head as another voice spoke up.

"Nor can I, really." The two younger faunus looked up to see the Huntress from before standing behind them. "Heard you two shouting as I was making my rounds around the ship." The woman was decked out in a dark red jacket, a white undershirt and grey shorts. "I didn't mean to listen in, but you two didn't really stay quiet."

Sun rubbed the back of his head nervously as Blake glanced up and down the woman, her eyes locked with the Huntress's silver eyes, causing Blake to gasp, while Sun looked on confused. Blake recognized the Huntress now, it was the same woman who had been taking care of Yang on that bus. "You're that woman I saw on the bus."

The Huntress smiled. "Yes I was, glad to see you again, Blake was it? Oh! Let me introduce myself! My name's Summer, nice to meet you both in person and not fighting a Sea Feilong!" Blake couldn't place just what, but something was telling her that Summer was hiding something from her and Sun about herself. "You okay Blake?" Summer spoke out a few moments later. "You've been staring at my ears." Summer then scratched behind one of them for herself. "I uh don't normally have them out like this, actually."

"Oh uh nothing mam!" Blake shouted, now a little embarrassed. "Just.." Blake glanced up and down Summer another time. "You still remind me a lot of Ruby."

Summer frowned at Ruby's mention, not unlike last time. "Ruby, she's your team leader right? Ruby Rose of Beacon, that one?"

Before Blake could do anything but nod, Sun chirped in trying to smile at the both of them. "Blake's not wrong! You really look like Ruby, Miss Summer!"

Summer just shrugged at them. " _Maybe._ " She relaxed a little. "Well, I just wanted to thank you both for helping me earlier with that Grimm. But as well, neither of you should be going to chase the White Fang. They're far too dangerous for either of you to go fight alone."

"Well that's why I'm here!" Sun said smiling, though slumped back down once he got the glares from the two huntresses staring at him. "Us Faunus gotta stick together."

Blake looked at him, the urge to slap him was high, but with this huntress here she couldn't. "No Sun, you're wrong. I'm not going to Menagerie to fight the White Fang."

Sun turned to her, now a little puzzled. "Then why are you going there?"

"I'm going home."

Summer perked up. "I wish I could go home, but… I can't. You must be happy to be going home, Blake."

"So if you're not going home _Summer_ -" Blake started, still unsure of this woman and why she seemed familiar. "-Where are you going?"

Summer smiled. "I needed some time to think actually. After the Fall, I mean. With the CCT down, I decided to go visit my old babysitter first-."

Sun spoke up as he jumped onto the railing. "And I thought I was a little crazy."

Summer glared at him. "She's kinda important down here, so to kill two ravens with one bird, I wanted to check in on her, which gave me time to think. I knew my family was going to be fine for a couple of months anyway, my husband would make sure of that. For he's one of the most skilled fighters I know!"

"Hmm." Blake said finally. "Seems you have a lot of trust in them, then."

Summer smiled towards the cat faunus. "Of course I do. Well, I'm going to grab a drink from the diner before I go on another round." Summer said as she started to walk off, stopping before she left earshot. "Please, do not try to fight the White Fang, you two."

Blake rolled her eyes, she did not need a Ruby look and act alike telling her what to do. "So, what about you Sun? Where are you going to go now that I'm not going to fight them, not yet at least."

Sun beamed. "I'm still coming with you! The Grimm are getting worse; you saw it yourself! And just because you're not going after the Fang doesn't mean they won't be coming for you! Besides, I'm... kind of already on the boat." Sun looked at her smiling softly as he finished.

"There's no stopping you, is there?"

"Nope! This is going to be great! Never been in Menagerie before! It'll be a regular journey to the east! Yeah, I like the sound of that." Sun said smiling as he just looked at Blake. Blake just sighed, she knew this was going to be a long journey then.

* * *

"Nope! This is going to be great! Never been in Menagerie before! It'll be a regular journey to the east!" Sun's voice echoed into Summer's ears as she turned the corner and opened the door inside. That was exhausting talking to Blake and that monkey faunus, and she had barely skirted the question again. Her door clicked behind her as she sighed in relief. She was going to have to tell Blake once they landed at Menagerie. Putting her weapon down on the table she layed on the bed for a few moments, just thinking about the day's events so far.

She got up and looked at the mirror for a moment. "That's right, I'm Summer." she smiled. "Formerly the baker of the best cookies in Vale and slayer of giant monsters." She smiled to herself, as she kept thinking. She was Summer Rose-Branwen, and it was time for her to face her fears and come to terms with the present. She had to keep moving forward. She could not keep thinking of her past, she needed to be ready to reunite with Ruby in Mistral when that time came.


	2. Taking Flight

* * *

Darkness. Ruby tried to open her eyes but that's all she saw around her. She tried to move around but the world felt like it was crushing down on her, though it was soft to the touch, like Jaune's hoodie or a blanket. She moved to brush up to it; poking it a few times. A loud voice echoed around in the darkness. "Give me another minute.."

Ruby didn't want to give the disembodied voice another minute as she forcefully poked again. The walls around her started to shift as light filtered in. She gasped as where she was poking was a giant bunny face! The voice groaned more from above. "Alright, alright I'm up, no need to poke-". The voice stopped as the final walls fell down around Ruby. There above her was what seemed to be a giant… with Jaune's hoodie.

The giant eventually looked down, their bright blue eyes staring into Ruby's as it spoke. "Oh, when did you get in here? I didn't know Ruby's uncle had a pet bird."

"A bird?!" Ruby shouted, looking down to finally notice she was no longer in her normal clothes; but she had feathers in place of them, and a set of maroon colored wings stood in place of her arms. "Help me Jaune! It's me Ruby!"

Jaune did not listen. "Awww you've got such a cute peep."

' _Cute Peep?!_ ' Ruby thought to herself as Jaune kept talking.

"Come on, Let's get outta bed, I gotta find a place to put you until Qrow comes back. Or at least until I find your cage, unless you're a wild bird but I doubt it; Ren closed the door earlier."

Ruby struggled a little as Jaune just picked her up. "There there, no need to get fussy." Ruby tried to speak but realized it was pointless. "Oh more peeps!" Jaune answered for Ruby as he slowly moved his arms. "There, a little better?" Ruby had to admit, it was a little comfy in Jaune's arms. Perhaps he had raised a little bird as a child? Jaune removed one of his hands to open the toor, and ever so gently tightened his grip on Ruby with the other as he did so, shoving her into the Pumpkin Pete's face.

They walked into the main room where Ruby spotted Ren and Nora relaxing."Hey you two; you didn't see any birds fly in at some when you got out of bed did you?"

Nora looked at Jaune. "No why? We shut the door after we left the room." Nora's eyes drifted down to Jaune's arms. "Awww you found a crow!"

Ruby started to scream, "I'm not a crow! Nora, it's me Ruby!" Nora too just cooed back at her, naturally unaware of the situation. "You can't understand me either…"

Ren looked up from the couch, clearly interested in the conversation at this point. "Pretty looking crow you got there, Jaune."

"Yeah, the window was locked, so I have no idea how this little birdie got into the room." Jaune finally spoke. "Either of you know where Ruby is?" Ruby snapped at him, pecking hard at Jaune's arm, clearly annoyed that her comments were being ignored! "Hey now! I'm not trying to hurt you, little one." His voice, even with his arm slightly red from the peck, was calm as he kept speaking. "I'm gonna see if Ruby's uncle has any bird feed laying around."

Nora perked up as Jaune started to walk away. "Why not just toast up some bread and cut it into cubes?"

"Huh?" Jaune was quick to question it, and Ruby sighed a sigh of relief, she did _not_ want to eat year old bird seed! Bread would do just fine until Qrow came back and helped her, he knew magic, and this was clearly that!

"Yeah!" Nora said getting up, staring up and down at Ruby's form. "She's a hooded crow, Jaune, she'll most likely prefer cut up toast over bird seed. Though, I don't recall hooded crows having red feathers, they're normally more grey."

Jaune tilted his head a little. "And you know this how?"

Nora's smile grew wider at that. "I know every common type of bird! Hooded Crows are normally found in Vytal, but appear in Solitas, Northern Sanus, and Northern Anima as well! I've seen a few in Vale, but never a _red_ one!"

Before Ruby or Jaune could question her, Ren's voice answered for them from the couch. "She read a lot of bird books as a kid to pass our time at libraries."

"Yeah! And Renny over there learned cooking! He can make nearly every type of tea!" Nora said shouting back at her partner in crime. "Even some of the dangerous ones!"

"Nora, that was _one_ time." Ren calmly spoke still from the couch. Ruby had to admit that was a little in character for the duo, Nora bringing wacky stuff to Ren.

"Do I want to know?" Jaune asked out loud. Ruby just looked upward at her teammates, awaiting Nora's response.

"Oh yeah! We met an alchemist one time and I got some of their leaves for Renny! The woman got mad but when she learned why I did it, she helped us make the tea properly and even gave us a good luck package of sorts for the road!" _Isn't a good luck package a wedding term?_

Ruby didn't really get time to ponder the idea of a good luck package, as Jaune started to walk down the stairs towards the kitchen, holding Ruby very close on the way down. "Come on little one, let's get you fed at least."

"Alright." Ruby said, knowing that she only peeped or chirped at him in his eyes. They entered and Ruby was put down on the counter.

"How would you like it?" Jaune asked before realizing how silly that sounded, Ruby thought he would have face palmed himself if it was not for the bread now in his hands instead of her. "I-I'll try for medium toasting."

Ruby just stared up at him trying to smile as she cawed. There had not been any words behind the caw, just a soft caw came out of her mouth. "Awww." Jaune stared down at her. "You've got a pretty caw as well!" Ruby thought to reply to that but decided against it, at this point she had started to accept she wasn't able to talk to them currently. _Uncle Qrow better get back soon._

Jaune just smiled as he threw four pieces of toast into the toaster. It was kinda, Ruby couldn't really think of a word to describe the moment, just quiet? Sure peaceful would describe the moment. Serene? Jaune turned to the garden, noticing the door as slightly ajar. "Nora! Did you forget to close the garden door?!"

"Oh oopsie!" Nora's voice came from up the stairs. "Maybe that's where the bird lives? So that Qrow doesn't have to water it or really feed it."

"Right!" Jaune said smiling as he turned to face Ruby, who was now trying to act innocently as she slowly wandered around the countertop. "You hear that? We're gonna get you back home right after dinner."

Ruby huffed a little at Jaune calling the garden her home. "I don't live in the garden!"

Jaune looked at her and just beamed. "Yeah! That's right! We call your house a garden, little one." Ruby just rolled her eyes at that comment. She could not believe Jaune was dense enough to not see the fury in her eyes!

Eventually the two heard a pop coming from the toaster, causing them to focus on the toast. "That's my cue to cut it up!" Jaune said, laughing softly. He went to grab a plate and started to pull out the toast, keeping an eye on Ruby as he went to grab a knife. "Huh, I never noticed but Qrow childproofed these, maybe Yang and Ruby visited as kids at one point." That got Ruby's attention as she perked up and looked over to see, sure enough, childproof locks on the cabinet.

"B-but I've never been here?" Ruby questioned herself out loud, cawing a little in the process, waking up on the couch downstairs had been the first memory she had of this house. She had to say, it was a little concerning though that Uncle Qrow had gone through all the hassle to make the kitchen child proof if he never had any children.

Jaune didn't answer as he had grabbed from the fridge some strawberry jam. "I got this for Ruby but I don't think she'll mind if I take some for my toast." _Mine._ As soon as Jaune put it down open, Ruby started to walk up and slowly grabbed the top with her beak. She had to admit that though, that using her mouth to move something was a new experience. "Hey! That's… oh, do you want some as well?" Jaune had started to yell but tried to recognize the situation, smiling. "Here, I'll give you one with the jam first then if you like it, I'll put jam on the other one, how's that little one?"

'Why do you keep calling me that, Jaune?' Ruby thought to herself as she smiled and cawed a "Yes". to him.

A minute later the now strawberry jam covered toast was being cut up by Jaune as he put it onto a plate in tiny little slices close to a cube shape. "Here you go." Ruby looked up to seeing him smiling softly at her.

Ruby slowly looked down at the plate and pecked at one of the pieces, before grabbing it fully in her beak and eating it down, it was a lot bigger than she expected but that's likely due to her size compared to say Jaune's currently at least.

"There, that good?" Jaune's voice cut into Ruby's thoughts as she ate, causing Ruby to just look up and cawed another yes at him before going back to eating. A few moments passed as Ruby ate from the plate, happily cawing a little, for some reason she really loved them even though it's just toast and jam.

Eventually the plate was empty and Ruby just glazed up at Jaune, cawing a little. "Oh, you're done already? You full?" Ruby just slowly nodded as she cawed. "Alright then." With that Ruby was picked up by Jaune. "Let's get you to the garden, little one."

Ruby got a little cozy in Jaune's arm as he started to walk towards the glass door to the garden. He slowly opened the door and they stepped in. Ruby was in awe at the garden, the centerpiece was an apple tree. Around the tree was what looked to be rose bushes, or rather at one time, were rose bushes, having over time grown and sprouted outwards, being untrimmed.

Closer to the door, Ruby noticed a tiny pond which seemed at one point to house fish but only looked abnormal without anything growing or living in it. A small patch of Azaleas grew underneath a willow tree in the corner, it's vines touching the soft waves of the pond.

Jaune slowly creaked across the wooden bridge over the pond, passing the fountain where the water spilled out. The fountain had two figures on it, the figure of a wolf sticking its tongue out to drink, while the figure of the crow sat on its back. Ruby just looked at it, like it was drawing her in to look at it more. As Jaune continued on his way, Ruby in his arms, her focus honed in on the structure near the tree. Standing tall was a bird bath that took inspiration from Atlas, the only building in the bowl being what Ruby assumed was the Academy and CCT tower, though the bowl's sides were decorated in what looked like the underside of the city. At the bottom, raised above the pond with streams for the water to flow out, was a recreation of the city of Mantle. Ruby happened to notice only one building out of all of Mantle was painted, one building close to the main water stream was painted a soft red, in contrast to the marble of the rest of the birdbath.

The sounds of apples being smashed together came to Ruby's ears. She had not even realized they had arrived at the apple tree. Jaune started to lift her to the tree, speaking to catch her attention, "Alright, here we are, little one." Ruby however only pecked at his shirt sleeve, not wanting to go just yet. "No! Please don't try to rip my hoodie! It's limited edition!" _If it was still so limited edition Jaune, why do you still wear it?_

Ruby had to accept defeat and stopped as Jaune put her on the branch of the apple tree. He looked up at her and smiled. "I'll come feed you later if you want." Ruby nodded and cawed, as she didn't know how long she was going to still be a bird for. "Alright then. I'm gonna go, see you little one." With that, Jaune turned and walked away, the door eventually clicking softly as Ruby just watched him on the outside of the glass turning and going upstairs, but not before putting the strawberry jam away for her.

Eventually she could hear Jaune's voice through the glass, though it was quite muffled, though she could hear her name a couple of times; with Jaune's voice sounding a little panicked compared to Ren and Nora's.

"What do you mean you can't reach Ruby's scroll!" Jaune's voice echoed around the building. Ruby's ears perked up as she tried to look upstairs. "Damn it all!"

'I have to do something.' Ruby thought to herself as she moved on the branch. She jumped from the edge of the branch, figuring that she would naturally know how to fly, failing as she started to fall out of the tree. In a panic she tried to use her semblance, which surprisingly worked as she slammed right into the glass looking at the trio. Her eyes met Jaune's as she slid down, trying to flap her wings again. 'Great I'm a bird who can't even fly' Ruby thought as she slid down for a moment and then tried to use her semblance to lift herself back into the tree at least.

That attempt seemed to have gotten their attention as she saw Nora start walking downstairs. Her hopes were dashed as Nora seemed to only go to the kitchen to grab something to drink, likely a cup of Ren's tea. Nora did however stop on the stairs on the way back trying to spot her, before shrugging and going back up and out of sight.

Ruby looked at the glass again, slowly using her semblance once more to lift herself up to watch her friends talk, Jaune helplessly kept having his scroll up to his ear, no doubt trying to call her. She didn't want this, she was now actively hurting her friends, her _best_ friend over this, something she had no control over. She cawed loudly as she tried to flap her little crow wings as she hit the wall again. Her friends, her _teammates_ could not understand her and it was frustrating seeing them mill around trying to contact her. _She was right there._

She had to try again, her team had to take notice sometime right? She got off the branch she had landed back on for another time, but she tried flying this time. Flapping frantically as she hit the rose bush. 'Ugh' Ruby thought to herself as she took in a huge whiff of a rose's pollen. It tickled her beak which she didn't like as she needed to sneeze.

And sneeze she did with a loud "Achoo!" Ruby felt herself falling from the rose bush. She tried to stop her fall with a few flaps of her wings as she started to panic.

_Breathe._

Ruby recognized that voice, it was the one from earlier, at the Garden at the hospital. Ruby decided to listen to it. She took a breath, as a loud thud was heard.

_Thud._

The thud was followed by Ruby screaming in pain and agony as she slowly got up. She blinked as she was no longer a bird. She slowly noticed she had bruised her arms in the fall. She hated how magic clearly worked, just her bad luck.

"Owwww." Ruby finally spoke trying to get up, as the door slammed open. There standing was the remainder of her team now, weapons all loaded. "Ruby!" Jaune said running over and offering a hand up. A hand that Ruby ever so graciously grabbed as she used her other hand to pat off any dirt. "Are you ok?! We heard a loud thud and well you're here now!"

Ruby just nodded at him, unsure if she even wanted to reveal whatever the darkness that just happened to her was. "Uh yeah, I was testing out my semblance, ended up running out right above the garden, I hit the tree on the way down which softened my landing." Ruby rubbed the back of her neck even though she had landed face first.

Nora smiled. "Did you see that red hooded crow on your way down?" She looked up and gasped, before pointing at something, before being held back by Jaune.

Ruby nodded. "I think I saw a bird fly out of the tree as I fell down, yeah.. Sorry." Ruby eventually noticed the stares of her teammates. "W-what's wrong guys?"

"Ruby." Jaune was trembling as he spoke. "When d-did you uh. Ren wanna help me out?"

Ren just looked at Ruby a moment, before kneeling down on the ground, using his semblance to try to remove emotions. Ruby was confused by that as she spoke. "Answer me please?" She asked, the confusion had given out to worry. "Is it a bug on me?" She patted her head and stopped as she felt ears. "Ears?" she asked.

"A tail too." Jaune quietly answered under his breath which Ruby picked up on.

Ruby's face turned as pale as it could as she turned to the glass wall to see she had grown a wolf's ears and tail. "I'm a faunus?!" she shrieked, clearly concerned that she had just randomly sprouted faunus traits. "H-how am I a faunus?"

Within seconds Nora was released by Jaune, and was petting Ruby's new tail. "It's so fluffy Ruby."

Ruby nervously laughed. "Y-yeah, but…-" Ruby just whimpered a little as the pain of the fall still stung as Jaune threw his arm around her. "Huh?"

"Let's get you upstairs so you can rest on the couch until your uncle comes back, he'll know what's up with you." Jaune said as he patted Ruby's side a little. "Glad to see you're ok, Ruby, I got a little worried when you disappeared on us to test your semblance."

Ruby had to resist the urge to eye roll right then, her best friend was such a dork, but at least she was back to normal, somewhat. "Right, let's go then." Ruby answered as they started to walk out of the door, Ruby taking another look at the garden before Ren closed the door on it as they all started to walk up the stairs.

As she walked up the stairs, Ruby slowly started to feel control over moving her tail. If she was in the mood to talk she would have said that it was weird to have it now. Jaune slowly sat her down on the couch as he sat next to her. It was awkward for a bit as Ren and Nora sat down on the other couch.

Eventually a voice echoed from down below, it was a little raspy though, fitting for Uncle Qrow. "Hey kiddos, I'm back."

The team looked at each other, as Nora got up. "I'll go get your uncle for you Ruby."

Ruby nodded as Nora slowly got up and disappeared down the stairs before she came back with Qrow. "Now, Nora's saying some things...wrong...by the gods." Ruby could tell her uncle was not expecting this.

"H-hi Uncle Qrow… is magic contagious? You mentioned it to us and well, now I'm a faunus."

Qrow examined Ruby for a few long moments. "No kiddo. I don't think magic is contagious. But what I do think is it's genetic. When I ran missions for him Oz told me a lot about magic. He told me more than a few times that some people are just naturally more gifted with it than others." Qrow sighed as he crossed the room to Ruby and ruffled her hair. "If I had to guess, I'd say you're one of the more adept ones."

"B-but, that shouldn't mean I just randomly sprout a tail and ears overnight, should it?!" Ruby shouted in frustration, "I-!"

Qrow raised a hand to cut her off. "Calm down kiddo, before I start drinking. You're stressing the both of us out. And honestly, this makes sense. Oz didn't have any real concrete proof or anything, but he had a pretty compelling theory - and knowing him, it ain't a theory - that Faunas were... more _connected_ to the gods in some fundamental way. More than, say..." He glanced around the room, considering Jaune for a moment then dismissed him with a shake of the head, redirecting his attention to Nora. "Say Nora there as an average person."

"Wait a minute then. If that's true, then why isn't it common knowledge?" Jaune asked, brow furrowed in confusion. "About the Faunas being connected to the gods? Wouldn't that make them - I don't know - _sacred_ or something?"

Qrow scoffed."Even if it were true, kid, do you honestly expect the average person to believe it? Have you seen the way the average human and faunas interact with each other? Odds are they'd try to spin it as some extremist White Fang propaganda. And that's the last thing the world needs after Beacon."

That got a few looks from the others in the room, they had all seen reports after the Fall about the rise in racism between faunus and non-faunus. "Okay... so, how were the faunas supposed to be more connected?" Ruby asked, hastily adding. "T-to the gods I mean!"

Qrow drew in a breath, gathering his thoughts. "I don't know all the details, kid, but simply put; Oz believed that faunas used to have their own sub-species. A kind with two or more animal traits. As you can imagine, they'd even have their own skills or talents in magic - depending on how well they could... _commune_ with the Gods."

"More than one faunus trait?" Jaune asked again.

"In his studies of Faunas mythos, Oz called them druids." Qrow paused in his telling, hands itching towards his breast pocket where his flask rested. How he longed for a sip. "According to the old man, there hasn't been another Faunas with two traits in, well, gods only know how long... until today."

Ruby struggled to process what she was being told. First the tail and ears, and now all of this... bizzare faunas lore? Well, it wasn't the first time she'd heard whimsical tales from her Uncle, but she was still trying to wrap her head around it all.

"So, why are you telling us this? And what does it have to do with me? I still don't understand how I'm supposed to be connected to all of this?"

Qrow hesitated for a moment. His natural instinct was to lie in this moment, but no. Ruby needed - no, she deserved the truth. "My best and closest friend in this world was-" He paused and corrected himself, "- _is_ a faunas."

"Your best friend?" Nora all but squealed. "No. Way! Are we getting a story! Tell it! Tell it please!"

Qrow rolled his eyes at the antics, pleased for the temporary break in his dower mood. "You know her, Ruby."

Ruby thought on it for a moment. Who could've been Qrow's best friend? Sure, he had plenty of semi-close female acquaintances, but none in that number really fit the description. In truth, there was truly only one person that came to mind. Two if she included her father. "My mom. My mom was a faunas, right?" Ruby received a nod in conformation. "I-I remember a photo of her on the vanity. The way her hood sat, I thought for sure she had faunas ears. And she always wore her hood, even at home."

Qrow nodded again somberly. "Yeah, that was your mother for you. Like everyone, she had her fair share of secrets. And that was one of her biggest of all. Hell, I'm lucky she even told _me_. That's how close she liked to play things to her chest."

Shock was only the tip of the iceberg to describe the myriad of emotions Ruby felt. Her head was swimming with information and questions. And on top of everything, her Uncle just casually admitted her mother was a Faunas. "D-Does Dad know? About mom being... you know, a Faunas and everything?"

"Yeah. Yeah he does. Shockingly enough, he learned that little secret after I did kiddo." Qrow slumped down on the other couch, as if the very discussion itself was weighing him down.

Ruby felt the sting of oncoming tears. She felt... hurt, angry and above else betrayed. Why? This was not fair. "W-Why wouldn't you guys just trust me with that? With my own mum? Qrow -" Ruby choked on her own words. "Why couldn't you just trust me? Even a little? Do you have any idea how much it hurts? That there's so much I don't know about my own mother, and you or dad refuse to tell me even the smallest things?"

"This has never had anything to do with trust, or a lack of it Ruby." Qrow leaned forward, hands clasped loosely together as he rested his elbows on his lap. He kept his focus only on her, ignoring the presence of the others. "Kiddo, like I said, adults have plenty of secrets. Some are kept until others are old enough to understand them. Others?... Well, others are meant to stay dead and buried. I'll be honest and say I have a few that fit into both categories. But your mother... her secrets were and will always be her own."

Ruby could tell this was difficult, that the task of speaking about this was hurting him on some emotional level. Despite her own conflicted feelings, her concern for Qrow won out. "Me and your dad - we agreed that if anyone were to tell you those secrets, or your sister for that matter, they were best to come from Summer herself."

Qrow toyed with his rings, running his thumb over them. A common trick when he was stressed and lacked a flask to drink from. "Summer loved you dearly, like only a mother could. But, like with your friend Blake, she faced a lot of hardship because of her Faunas heritage. And she wanted to protect you from that. She wanted to make sure you grew up without living through that pain and isolation. There's something to be said for ignorant bliss. But... seems like fate had a different opinion."

"A different opinion? What does that mean, Uncle Qrow?" Ruby pressed.

Qrow's lips pressed in a thin line as he thought. "I suppose the point I'm trying laboriously to get to in all of this is... well, you remember what I said back at the campfire right? The night that scorpion prick got me?" He gestured to his bandages.

Ruby nodded insistently. "Of course I'd remember."

"Then you'd remember that I said you're a rare breed with those Silver Eyes. And you've been able to use them twice over, based on what Jaune's told me. I don't know where they came from, and the old man never breathed a word on it, but I do know one thing. They're magic."

"So, like the Maidens?" Jaune interjected, his interest peaking ever so slightly. Judging from the rueful expression, he wasn't happy with the secret keeping either.

Qrow shifted a little, straightening up on the lounge. Ever since the concept was first introduced to the young warriors, Jaune in particular seemed to take a certain disdain for the matter. Especially when Qrow had shed light around the circumstances down in Beacon's vault, and the botched attempt to salvage what remained of Amber's maiden powers by passing them onto Pyrrha.

"Sort of. They're both magic, but play by a whole other set of rules. Unlike the Maidens, where the power is passed from host to host upon the former's death, Silver eyed magic is passed down by bloodlines. Mother to daughter, father to son, and so on. Think of it as something like the Schnee's Glyph semblance."

Qrow redirected his attention to Ruby, "I'm thinking that when you used your powers at Kuroyuri, it triggered a change in you. I don't wanna say it forced an evolution or anything science-y because that's not my field, but whatever happened, it made you more adept in handling your innate power."

Ruby just looked at her uncle and sighed a sigh of relief. "You think so?"

"I think that's how you just started to grow faunus traits, but no, before you ask. I doubt you will be growing any other traits." Qrow just softly smiled at Ruby. "Now, it's a bit late but do we want to start making dinner?"

Nora perked up. "Dinner?! Finally!" That caused the others, even Ren to laugh a little. "Come on Renny and Jaune! Let's go so Ruby and her uncle can rest a little more!"

Jaune didn't really question it though he lingered a little at Ruby's side before going down with the rest of the team, leaving Ruby and Qrow alone upstairs. "So…" Ruby eventually decided now would be the best time to ask him seeing the others were gone. "I got another question."

Qrow looked up at Ruby. "Yes Ruby? What's on your mind."

"You said innate powers, right?" Ruby questioned, her words full of uncertainty. Qrow sat up a little, giving her his full attention. "So... what if I told you I turned into a bird earlier?"

Qrow blinked at her once. Twice. Any semblance of normalcy stripped away in a heartbeat. "Wait - what?"

Eyes still watery, Ruby brushed the tears away with her palm and met his gaze evenly. "When I woke up from my nap earlier, I... well, was a bird. Nora called me a Hooded Crow, I think. I only shifted back on accident really, a good sneeze if you can believe it? Is it - I mean, do you know if it's going to happen again?"

Qrow was caught off-guard. He leaned back, stroking his chin in thought. Though he knew the answer to that question rather easily, tonight was not the night he wanted to inform her about that particular magic. Not after all of his explanation of faunas lore, which turned everything the kids held as truth on its head. He didn't want to put any more strain on her, at least... not for a little while.

"I, um... I can't really say Ruby. I _have_ heard of tribes of shapeshifting humans from Oz, but... Look, I'll try to dig up anything I can on it to help you with that. And if it happens again, I promise I'll be there to help you through it. Okay?"

"Thanks, Uncle Qrow. I'm gonna head downstairs, see if anyone needs help in the kitchen. You just rest here for now, okay?" She slowly got up, moving to hug him a little before putting a hand on his head for once, ruffling his feather like hair before going down the stairs. She stopped halfway as she thought she heard him, but kept going after standing there for a moment.

Ruby jumped down the last step to join her team, grabbing herself something to drink from the fridge before looking out at the moon. "Hey Jaune?" she asked as Jaune had walked up to her.

"Yes Ruby?" Jaune then went quiet as he looked back beyond Ruby's head at Ren cooking with Nora chopping up vegetables.

"What do you think our friends like Weiss are doing right now?" Ruby asked innocently. "Like we're now here.."

Jaune smiled as he put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Weiss? I hope she's still working to be a huntress like us, honestly. I miss them, and I know you do too, Ruby." Ruby just smiled as she looked up at her teammate.

"Hey, do you wanna start the water Jaune?" Nora shouted from the kitchen.

"Coming Nora!" Jaune shouted. "You coming along, Ruby?"

Ruby shook her head. "I uh wanna look out the window for a few more minutes." Ruby then hastily added. "I'll be along shortly!"

Jaune nodded as he left towards the kitchen. Ruby just stared at the broken moon, it's silvery moonlight all around her, leaving Ruby wondering how the rest of her former team was getting on out there. She turned to look at her team all cooking. She could only giggle to herself when she saw the piece of toast Jaune had made for her as a bird still resting on the counter. She had to admit it was quite funny how life worked out for her today. And tomorrow would be better hopefully as she moved on from this and learned how to adapt to her new powers.


	3. Cracking The Ice

* * *

The shattered moon cast its light through the broken window, filtering into the frosty room littered by fallen books and discarded novelty. The pale moonlight stretched across the soft blue suitcase, perched atop a bed covered by light blue sheets. One of the pillows was missing, as was the snowglobe that used to sit on the nightstand by the bed. A soft click was heard from the suitcase as it was closed.

The owner stood above the suitcase, her hands still pressing down onto the lid. She was utterly unrecognizable under the dark blue jacket that hid most of her distinguishing features from view.

But under that hood, she was the former heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, Weiss Schnee.

And she wanted _out._

Out of this mansion, she once called this place 'home'. It's said that distance makes the heart grow fonder, but her time back in Atlas these past months have reminded her of how much a prison this place was. Figuratively, and now quite literally. Even now, under her father's watch, this place tried to keep her shackled to an infection. One that rotted away at Nicholas Schnee's legacy.

For years Weiss trained here. She was told she had to be the 'perfect' heiress, jumping at her father's command.. That was until she had tasted freedom. Before she managed to see the other side, she sampled the simple pleasure of stepping out of her father's design by announcing she had been accepted to Beacon Academy.

Atlas' tabloids had a field day when they saw her announcement, and her family were none-too-pleased with her choice either. This wasn't the first time the Schnee family had provided a juicy bit of gossip for the tabloids to sink their teeths into. No, the honour of being the first Schnee to attend a Huntsmen Academy belonged to her sister Winter.

Beloved big sister Winter was one of her inspirations. One that fostered aspiration within Weiss to learn to fight, master her craft and expand her horizons. That in turn led her to Beacon Academy.

The prestigious reputation of Beacon Academy in Vale proceeded itself. It was one of the highest ranked academies outside of Atlas, if not the highest regarded academy on the face of Remnant. And in its prestige, it had produced some of the most fabled and revered Huntsmen of their time. Teams like STRQ and LYRE, BLHT and AZTC and so many others...

Weiss counted it a great honour to walk in their footsteps.

Even if her tenure at Beacon Academy had been brief, she found herself in good company. Pyrrha Nikos, Mistral Regional Tournament champion four years in a row, had spoken with her! On a daily basis no less! Blake Belladonna was on her team, the daughter of the former White Fang leader Ghira Belladonna who now served as chieftain of Menagerie.

There were rough patches at the start. Ideological disagreements between her and Blake. Secrets that both sides preferred to remain buried inevitably surfaced. And things were tense for a time, but they pulled through it - even becoming firm friends because of it.

Then came Yang Xiao Long, daughter of Taiyang Xiao Long of Team STRQ if the name was any indication. She confirmed that connection with wild stories of her parent's misadventures whenever asked, and her fiery spirit seemed to come right from her father, if documentations on Team STRQ were to be believed.

There were other people that she would call her friends at Beacon. She had to admit that tomissing the bubbly Nora Valkyrie, who brought her energetic and quirky personality to their shared classes. Lie Ren's zen and quiet attitude which loaned itself to assisting each other in studying. She even had to grudgingly admit she missed Jaune Arc, annoying sure, but even he was good-natured.

And finally, her team leader. Ruby Rose.

Ruby and Weiss had _not_ gotten off on the right foot on their first day. Ruby was...spritely, more so than Summer Rose if the tabloids were to be believed. Summer had won the Vytal Tournament twice and so had graced the pages of those articles for months after those victories, even coming up every few years or so.

If Yang was an echo of her father, then Ruby was every bit an echo of her mother. Though her Uncle's influence on her personality was undeniable. Whether that was a blessing or a curse was up for debate... or depended on the day. Sometimes she acted like a gremlin - the dolt!

Aside from that, Ruby was a natural leader for Team RWBY…back then, Weiss had to swallow her misguided pride to see that fact. Ruby had shown that she was much more suited to the leader role in other ways then just being in charge. She was a constant. A supporting friend and a rock throughout Beacon. And quick too. Not just in her semblance either. She was quick to react to change and could adapt to any situation at hand, whether it be on the battlefield or in the dorm.

When Weiss took a moment to examine the big picture, she realised that one of her biggest motivations to escape this wretched place... was Ruby. That dolt's naive yet genuine mentality had pierced through her icy exterior, and opened Weiss' eyes to the rest of the world. To Freedom. To the simple joy and happiness of life. Of home.

Weiss grabbed a hold of her suitcase, at this rate she was wasting her time thinking about escaping and not exactly doing so. She put Myrtenaster to her side as she slowly opened the door.

Right now, she did not want to get spotted and was more than surprised when she saw that Klein had been waiting outside of her door. He moved a finger up to his month to shush her.

"Let's go." He whispered to her, they were on a time crunch, after all. Weiss smiled to herself as they walked through the ornate hallways of the mansion

When possible, they muffled the sounds of their footsteps on the carpets. Weiss took a moment to pause as they entered the main staircase. The room looked… desolate without the normal hustle and bustle. Normally you could always see someone here, but right now? No one. Which made it all the better.

They were going nicely until Klein's scroll rang. He opened it and put the scroll to his ear. Weiss could not hear what was being said to Klein, but she could tell he did not like any word of it.

"Master Whitley!" The butler stood up reaffirming himself. "Yes, of course. I'll be up in just a moment." Weiss watched Klein turn to her before whispering. "Head to the first floor library. I'll meet you there."

Weiss nodded mutely as they split ways, walking slowly to avoid making too many noises on the tiles. All this walking gave her time to think it through again. She hated this place, and her 'role' in this dysfunctional family, the only two people here who had any semblance of actually being family were of course Klein, and her mother… when her mother wasn't drunk or using her for her own goals. Like the event with that Hildstone Hild, where her mother tried to pass off _her_ own capture as her own!

Weiss took a breath as she pushed open a door into one of the hallways. She was dreading this hallway the most as it housed one room in particular she didn't want to walk past: her father's study. The sounds of glass shattering erupted from the room, causing Weiss to duck and crouch behind the cushioned bench that her father had ever so kindly put in front of his study, so she could try to listen in.

* * *

"Jacques!" General James Ironwood stood over Jacques Schnee's desk, the jagged shards of a glass held in his right hand "You _need_ to get a grip!"

Jacques Schnee straightened in his chair, clearly displeased that his glass was broken. "Do I? What you're doing is insane!"

"What _I'm_ doing? What I'm doing is best for Atlas."

"Oh yes, it's what _you_ think is best for Atlas, James."

Ironwood scoffed. "I'm taking action based on info your daughter gave me when she handed in her report last week."

"Oh yes, the daughter your Military stole!"

Ironwood just looked at Jacques, before closing his eyes and drew in a breath. He had to admit that tensions were always high when dealing with the irascible President of the Schnee Dust Company.

"Every time I bring her up, you mention your ludicrous point. As if a grown adult with a mind of her own was your personal property. She is _not_. She is a good soldier and even better Specialist. And if I were you, I would drop that line of thought _entirely_. We have more pressing matters to discuss." Ironwood's words were disturbingly calm, carrying an underlying threat the President clearly didn't understand.

"Oh yes, like dealing with your lunacy!"

"Jacques!" The iron first crashing down on the desk punctuated Ironwood's fraying patience. . He stared at Jacques for a moment, drawing in one more breath. "Winter is one of my best, Jacques. When she came back last week, she told me there's a looming threat in Mistral. Which is something I don't take lying down."

"She told me that people are mobilizing, there's suddenly been spikes in weapons and Dust trades, down in Windpath and Mistral, Jacques. Someone is about to make a play and I do not trust Leo to stop them."

Jacques scoffed at him. "You've never trusted anyone other than yourself!"

Ironwood just frowned at that. "How delusional are you? The borders are closing tomorrow morning _based_ on what your daughter told me. I trust her. I trusted Oz. On top of that, I even approached Councilwoman Lupis for her advice on the matter before bringing it to the Council."

"Ah yes, Ashley Lupis, one of the last remaining descendants to the former Mantlean Royalty. An old woman from a dying breed. I'm shocked a relic from a bygone age even sat on the Council for all these years." Jacques said, adjusting his tie. "She has quite the temper though, but at least she has a grip on life, unlike you General."

Ironwood gritted his teeth for a moment. "I don't know how much more clearly I can explain this, so I'll use small words: Our people need protection. Come sunrise, the borders to the Kingdom Atlas will be closed. No one in; no one out. Without the council's permission."

Jacques sobered considerably, "You mean, without _your_ permission?"

Ironwood loomed over the tycoon for a long pause before speaking. "And if that becomes the case? Wouldn't you agree it would be best for you to stay on my _good_ side. Good night, Jacques, there is no more I wish to discuss."

General James Ironwood rose and turned, striding towards the door. He didn't hear the faint hum of a glyph being summoned, binding the door closed. First he tried his left hand as it was an outward swinging door. It wouldn't budge. He spared a glance over his shoulder to Jacques then switched to use his right arm. No given there, even with him using as much strength as he could.

"It's locked."

Jacques got up from his seat. "What are you on about? I didn't lock it!"

Ironwood just tried again before trying to slam on the door with his metal side, trying to pry it open. The sound of splintering wood echoed throughout the mansion.

* * *

Weiss made her way to the mansion's library by the time she started to hear the slamming that had started to occur.

"Klein?" She whispered hurriedly, looking around for her only ally in this mad escape.

No response. That was concerning Klein was never the type to just abandon her, could what Whitley needed really take that long? She looked around at all of the books that sat undisturbed on the shelfs, almost never used.

What she'd heard in her father's study added a new layer of desperation to this mad dash for freedom. She was working on borrowed time if the General's warnings came to pass. She simply could not afford to waste time now.

"Klein, where are you?"

This time she heard a reply in the form of a muffled sound near a corner bookcase. It moved aside seemingly of its own volition, and there was Klein. Behind him seemed to be a secret passage.

"Keep your voice down, I told you I would be here." His voice was gruff and Weiss couldn't help but notice that the butler's eyes had changed to a red hue.

Without a second thought, Weiss dropped Myrtenaster and her suitcase as she rushed to hug him.

He embraced her in turn then spoke softly, "Are you sure Mistral is safe?"

Weiss stepped back, recollecting herself. Klein, who's eyes by now had reverted back to their normal hue, didn't need to worry about the closing of the borders.

"No. But it's where I'll hopefully find my friends," Weiss answered. "And if I don't make it to the plane, I'll try to find Winter."

Klein looked at her smiling with gentle sympathy, "I suppose she'll be the only family you have left after tonight."

Weiss placed her hand on his shoulder, reaffirming him as she smiled. "I'll always have you." she said, almost crying.

"You most certainly will." Klein replied as a loud bang and crash echoed from down the hall, more specifically, the study.

"Klein? Klein, get down here this instant!" They could both hear Jacques' voice echoing through the frigid halls of the mansion.

"Go, now."

Weiss nodded as she collected her things to leave. When she passed the threshold, she turned back to Klein. They shared a sad look for a second, there was so much she wanted to say right then but three words had to suffice.

"Thank you Klein."

With a smile, Klein shut the secret passage's door on Weiss.

Weiss was now alone. Within the tunnels leading around and under the mansion, her _prison._ She was almost _free_.

Weiss descended slowly down the slopes and stairs, until she saw a small balcony. There was a carved out hole in the cliff, offering a view of the outside world.

From here, she could make out the great lake of Frisicum near the horizon. A trained eye like hers could make out the northern mouth of the lake, a canal built before the Great War connecting it to Solitas' landlocked sea, the Hanseatic Sea. A section of waterway joined the city-state of Mantle to the great oceans of Remnant.

The faint whiff of smog and dust filled her nose and she tasted it in her tongue, no doubt from Mantle below. She looked back out to the great lake another minute before heading down back into the tunnels, reminding herself that each second was precious.

The final obstacle in her way to the outside world was a rusty old door that, to Weiss, screamed tetanus. She pushed past any fears of it, to push down on the battered door bar. The door took a second to nudge, before creaking loudly as it wildly swung out. The cold frigid Atlesian air blasted her face. Gods, even with her oversized jacket, she was blaming herself for not bracing for that.

Readjusting to the bitter cold, Weiss recognized her surroundings. She was still in the mansion's shadow. More specifically, she was at the frozen door within her mother's menagerie… her mother's _true pride and joy._

Multiple cages lined the space, all full of exotic animals… all locked away like she had been. Weiss walked around, she swore her father deliberately designed this place to be a labyrinth.

The animals all watched her, their expressions full of sorrow, most long given up hope. She yearned to help them, but understood she couldn't. She didn't have the time to help them lest she lose her chance to be free herself.

She pushed past the feelings of guilt, only for her attention to be drawn towards the sounds of chains clanking not too far away. She froze in her tracks and turned, her nose taking in a whiff of tomato soup.

Weiss suddenly could see that, further down the snow covered path she was currently crossing, there stood a fleet of Schnee Dust Company Bullheads at the edge of the cliff face.

All Weiss could make out was a group of chained up faunus nervously sipping their meagre rations of soup as they were being shoved into the airships. Weiss carefully moved closer, intending to eavesdrop on the conversations between the Schnee Dust Company employees, marked by their standard winter jackets.

"Come on! No Trouble now!" shouted one of the personnel.

Their partner in crime spoke up in a gruff tone. "You should be _grateful_ for this treatment, after where you've been. We want you good and strong, don't we!"

Weiss just stared at the situation unfolding before her, she realised what she needed to do. "If I miss that cargo ship…. No." Weiss reassured herself as she pulled out Myrtenaster. "It doesn't matter. _No more Hailstone Hinds._ "

* * *

 _Weiss rode on horseback accompanying her mother and Klein as they ventured into the Snowbound Forest. A famous forest on Solitas bordering the southern end of the Mare Ferrum Cruce, the inner sea of Solitas. And a place they frequently visited for vacationing when they were…_ vaguely _a family._

_They'd been riding for days with no sign of their quarry until her mother shouted, sighting a deer who galloped past them all._

" _There it is!_ The Hildstone Hild! _" After she finished shouting, Weiss saw her mother take a long swig from her third bottle that day._

" _Madame Schnee, please." Klein's voiced caution to his mistress. "You have not ridden in years! Perhaps some food, some water, some_ rest _-"_

_"I don't-!" Willow paused to take a sip. "Need rest Klein!" She lifted her arms to summon glyphs around the deer only for it to avoid them altogether._

" _I'm not_ broken! _I can still-." Willow took a second to focus again on the deer. "-_ Do this! _"_

_Klein and Weiss exchanged looks, as Klein smiled. "Perhaps Madame Schnee, Weiss here can go chase the beast for you?"_

_"Oh that's an excellent idea!" Willow's face lit up. "Go, Weiss! Please bring it to me!"_

_Weiss smiled as she stirred her horse to chase after the deer, eventually cornering it and trapping it in some branches with the help of her glyphs._

_As Weiss got off the horse, her mother's voice came from behind her. "Well done, Weiss, darling!"_

" _This is-" Weiss could hear the swishing bottle even if she could not see her mother drink it. "-_ Exhilarating! _I feel… so_ alive _again!"_

" _Yes!_ Do it, _Weiss!" Weiss nearly jumped as she hadn't noticed her mother had moved to her side, and was addressing her. "Make me proud."_

_Weiss turned to the deer, blinded by the look of helplessness in its eyes._

" _Weiss, Darling."_

_With a clank the harness wrapped itself around the Hildstone Hild, and Weiss fell to her knees when the dead was done. "I… I_

did _it."_

_"Oh Weiss, sweetheart…." Her mother pulled her into a hug. "I_

knew _you could, how_ alive _you looked, who could resist you. Let alone_ abandon _you?"_

_Soon enough Weiss could hear her mother ordering Klien and the other Schnee Dust Employees to bring the Hildstone Hild to the manor._

" _I know Jacques won't let me keep a pet without making some sort of_ Gala _about it." She took another sip of her bottle. "Let those usual vultures come and see the_ Schnee's newest conquest. _"_

_At that moment, Weiss had to question what her mother meant by the family's conquest._

* * *

_It wasn't long until Weiss learned just exactly what her mother's words meant as she watched her mother give a speech at one of the infamous Schnee Galas._

" _Esteemed guests of my husband! Please behold the beautiful, powerful, beloved_ hart _I have_ won _, the legendary Hailstone Hild!" Weiss was taken aback by her mother's words._

She _had captured the Hild, yet her mother had taken the credit, and praise from the crowd._

" _Willow! To Willow Schnee, The Great Summoner!"_

_Weiss couldn't believe her mother's lie of omission and had to act. "Mother?"_

_Her mother took a sip from her wine. "Weiss, sweetheart?"_

" _Please, put that down."_ _Weiss couldn't stand that her mother was drinking at this time! "Mother…. That isn't what happened on the hunt at all! You said you were_ proud _of me, that_ I _was the one who-"_

_Willow cut her off. "I never said you weren't sweetheart!"_

" _You just said_ you _won the hind! Why put on this show? So dad will let you have another pet?"_

 _Willow's response was cold and snappy. "I don't understand why you are being_ so selfish _. I hardly think a slip of the tongue is-"_

 _Weiss took the opportunity to cut her off this time. "Mother,_ you're not well. _But this is more than the drinking. This isn't even the first time that you've acted like I'm….I'm…_ disposable. _"_

_Willow took a step back, rethinking her last statement. "... I didn't mean it, Weiss."_

_Weiss stared coldly into her mother's eyes and just glared. "_ Yes you did. _You told me right before going on the hunt that you believed I was like_ you _. Yet, it's still the wine, and the pets and the self-medication you love-." Weiss took a breath. "_ You meant it. _"_

 _Willow's expression went from one of realisation to one of anger, and Weiss knew every word was true. "_ Then be a worthy daughter. _"_

* * *

"And where do you think _you're_ going? Sneaking _away_ like a thief in the dead of night?"

 _Spotted._ Weiss turned around to a cloaked figure standing between two cages that had been empty. Weiss stood firm as she adjusted to the figure's presence.

The figure spoke with an ill frozen temper. "I should have known not even _you_ would stay by my side. Abandoned by Winter, by Whitley, by even your father… I should've seen this coming, really."

Weiss reaffirmed her tight grip on her rapier, reading herself, as the figure took off her hood to reveal it was her mother. Willow Schnee.

"No matter what I give any of you, you all still _leave_ me in the end." Willow's face was tired, restless, dark rings surrounded her eyes, no wonder them being since the news of Weiss's outburst and subsequent barring from leaving the manor.

"Mother…" Weiss walked closer to her mother, her hand never dropping Myrtenaster back into it's holster. " _These are faunus._ I'm going to set them _free_ -"

" _Convict Labor,_ sweetheart… for the Dust Mines." Willow sighed before speaking, Weiss could tell she was trying to be empathic to her, but it was barely there. "It used to bother me too. But they're _rabble-rousers_ , political prisoners, you know the sort… they're _"perfectly legal"_ , your father assured me, a-and your father-"

Willow paused for a few seconds. "-your father knows _best._ "

Weiss gritted her teeth, she could see just how warped her father had corrupted her mother with those words. Years of listening to him, had made her once believe those words but now she knew just what her father didn't show her.

"I've learned that too." Willow spoke gazing back from the faunus being put onto the bullheads, to her own daughter. "As I've learned there's nothing I'll ever be able to do to make you _love me_."

"Mother…" Weiss put her lip a little. "I _still_ love you."

She looked at her mother coldly before speaking again. "But being the victim of a cycle, _does not_ excuse you from trying to _break the cycle._ "

Willow returned the cold looks. "You think you can escape _this_? How can you even judge me after all I've had to endure?!"

"You're right." Weiss admitted, "I can't judge you by what you've endured."

The silence from her mother led her to continue speaking. "But what you're doing isn't right, Mother."

"Listen to yourself sweetheart. You're saying that you care more about _strangers_ than your own _mother_!"

"I'm breaking those faunus out of their chains. We have _no right_ to do to these poor people what Father has been doin-"

Willow cut her off by stretching out her arms, the hum of the Schnee semblance started to rattle out from her fingertips. "Do you have any idea what happens to girls-to _women_ who disobey at the Schnee Manor?"

* * *

_Weiss wandered around the frigid walls, looking for her parents, it was her tenth birthday after all! Klein had already said happy birthday but neither of her parents had yet, and so she was going to find them so they could tell her in person together._

_She crept up to the master bedroom door, it was ajar. Something in her mind told her to be cautious but the curiosity of being in the room got the better of her._

_Peering inside Weiss saw both of her parents, but they were not happy. They were shouting._

" _What do you mean Jacques?!" Weiss was speechless, she had never heard her mother angry, let alone at her father!_

" _How do I have to make this clear to you?_ I'm not going to Weiss's birthday party. _"_

W-what?

" _Jacques!" Willow pleaded. "Please, go for her. For me."_

_"No, end of discussion." Jacques's voice was frosty and firm._

" _Jacques-"_

_Weiss could only helplessly watch as her father slapped her mother across the face with a loud slap._

" _I_ never _loved you Willow." Weiss had to hide her gasp as she heard her father's voice. "I don't care about you, only_ your name _. Do you understand that, wife?"_

 _Weiss closed the door, and teary eyed, just ran away from the situation at hand_.

* * *

Weiss pulled a hand to her cheek, the feeling of her father's hand still resonated from her outburst a few weeks ago at the charity gala.

"I _do_ know what happens to them." Weiss looked down at her mother's glyphs, as she refocused back to reality.

"I am so… _sorry_ for you."

Weiss got her other hand ready for combat, as she pulled out Myrtenaster, her own semblance hummed. The sound clashing with her mother's own counter. "But I am _not_ 'Your newest conquest'."

"You want me to stay, Mother?"

"Prove it!" Weiss shouted as she started to summon her glyphs, she knew she had to fight her mother, whether she liked it or not. "Make _me_ proud!"


	4. Mengarie's Welcome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I really wanna thank RiggyMinus for her work betareading this for me on such a short notice, seeing I haven't really worked on this for a few months, I got stumped on Blake's stuff but I'm really happy with this so far!

**Chapter 4: Mengarie's Welcome**

* * *

There was a soft rhythm in Blake's step as she got off the S.S. Pride. Blake felt a wave of calm as she surveyed her surroundings. The noise of the town centre bell's toil and the chatter of the marketplace filled Blake's ears. She took a sigh of relief as she took a long breath of the salty Menagerian air, she was home.

The calmness surrounding her cracked as her companion shouted. "I've never seen so many Faunus in one place!"

"Yes Sun, this is the one place everyone can feel safe, no matter who or what they are." Blake eventually answered him as she dodged a person carrying a basket of goods.

Blake only rolled her eyes once she realized Sun's attention was being carried away by the dock's market stalls. "Come along, Sun, we can visit the market at a later date."

Sun just smiled as they walked along the coastal road, dodging people every minute or so. Sun questioned it after an encounter led him to nearly fall into a pool of water. "You know, it sure is crowded here."

Blake just kept walking as the road opened up to housing on both sides as it climbed a slight hill, "Yes, yes it is, always will be."

"Has it always so... _cramped_?" Sun spoke out, now clearly alarmed after bumping into another person on the road.

Blake's ears fell in disgust and her arms became quenched. She could not blame Sun for his lack of knowledge of Menagerie, but that's more the blame of the kingdoms. " Well, when you try and take an entire species and put them on an island that's two-thirds desert, yeah, it tends to be cramped."

Blake was not shocked to see Sun running up in front of her. "You have how much land?! Why don't you use all of it then?! A little desert doesn't hurt anyone!"

"It's not like the Vacuan deserts Sun." Blake shook her head for a moment, she couldn't be mad at him, he's never seen the Menagerian Grimm, and they weren't well documented. "We call it a desert, but the wildlife here is well…. It's currently a lot more dangerous than a lot of other regions, not to mention our jungles."

Sun just looked at her in confusion. "I'll let you know Vacuan Grimm are strong! How bad are these ones!"

Blake batted an eye at Sun. "There's plenty of dangerous Grimm out here, from the tiny Gnawteeth Grimm, basically feathered lizards, to the immobile Jadei Grimm, a sort of pitfall Grimm, to the-" Blake shutters. "Trapjaws Grimm, which has three heads, Sun, _three._ "

"Alright, alright!" Sun said, clearly backing down. "So what you're telling me is that, you were given a small island in the southeast corner of Remnant.-"

"Yes."

"-That's mostly desert or jungle-" Sun added.

"Correct." Blake just sighed, but she decided to keep playing along with Sun's questions.

"And is inhospitable to settlement."

Blake rolled her eyes. "You finally got it after I told you Sun."

Sun just looked at everyone around them. "Wow… that sucks, seems we got the bad end of the stick at the Great War Treaty."

"We're really lucky, in honesty, that the King of Vale stood for us at the treaty. Maybe he had intentions to shut us all up here, but seeing how he opened the Beacon Academy to Faunus 'of all nations' I doubt he had really any malice in his plans."

Sun looked at her. "Hey now, don't forget Vacuo was also led by a Faunus during the Great War." Sun just smiled, proud of his nation's former leader.

Blake just smiled. "I'm not, and it's likely that they helped us, the Faunus, get Menagerie. Seeing it had been an Mistralian Territory before the conflict." Sun nodded as they crested a big hill on the road they were on. "This Sun, is the heart of the city; this is Kuo Kuana."

Sun took a moment to glance around. "Wow, now this? This is a nice place, I'm shocked you would want to leave."

Blake stood blankly at him, had he forgotten how he had met her? "Many of us don't, but I _had_ to. We want to be equal to the rest of the humans, not tucked away in a corner of the globe like they want us to be." Blake just paused and looked away for a moment, not really wanting to touch the subject anymore. "You know, you can see my childhood home from here."

Sun looked around for a moment, "Oh?!" he shouted looking around. "Is it that one?" He pointed to a random one, while Blake shook her head. "This one?" Sun pointed to a more upper class one.

Blake just stood there, clearly pondering if she should let him keep guessing as knowing him, he's not going to guess it without help. She decided to just sigh after shaking her head a couple of times to answer Sun's answers. "How about you pick the one at the end of the street?"

Blake could hear the gasp escape from Sun's mouth. "That one Blake?! But that's a mansion for like, royalty!"

Blake rolled her eyes. "Well, we wouldn't say royalty, but we do have a chieftain here, Sun."

Blake noticed Sun tense up for a moment. "And you're related to the chieftain?"

"I'm his daughter." Blake said looking down slightly, she felt ashamed to say that, honestly.

"Then let's go!" Sun shouted, grabbing Blake's hand and starting to walk down the hill towards the house.

"Sun!" Blake could shout as she was dragged down the hill, passing most of the houses in Kuo Kuana until Sun finally stopped at the bottom, in the central plaza.

"So you live right there?" Sun smiled at Blake, as he pointed to the mansion towering before them. "I'll admit it's fancy looking!"

Blake just looked at him. "This used to be the Mistralian colony headquarters long ago but since the Great War, my family's rebuilt it to be a beacon of Menagerie taking what's ours back."

Sun smiled as they started to walk up the stairs, before frowning as he noticed Blake's disheveled look. "You okay there Blake?"

Blake felt her ears drop, as she took a moment to breath. "Just… haven't been home in years is all."

"Oh come on! It can't be that bad Blake!" Sun smiled as he shoved Blake towards the door. "Trust me, you'll do fine."

The door loomed imposing above Blake. Memories came flooding to Blake, unwelcome ones, mainly about the night she had decided to run from home, after telling her parents she was going to stick with the White Fang. She turned back to face the hill, as thoughts of just leaving crammed into her mind.

"It'll be ok." a voice rang out, there stood Sun still, smiling. "Just knock, what'll be the worst that can happen?"

Blake just stared at the golden haired monkey faunus before her. He was a good friend, even if his actions were quite questionable. Blake just turned back to the wall before her, with a slight boost in confidence from Sun. She took a breath and knocked.

It was up to fate now as they waited to see if someone answered.

The door slowly creaked as it was heard being unlocked. There stood an older looking cat faunus woman at the door, wearing a black hakama with golden trimmings. She blinked for a moment, before speaking. "Bl-Blake?"

Blake just smiled softly, with a short wave. "Hi Mom."

B"It's really you…I can't believe my baby girl's back home safe." Blake's mom just hugged her daughter, nearly tearing up before noticing Sun. "Oh, did you bring a boy home?"

Blake blushed, while she could call Sun a friend, he was just that. "No! He… stowed on the ship to make sure I was alright." Blake pulled away from the hug. "Mom, this is Sun Wukong, a student from Haven who came early and bonded with a few of my classmates before the festival. Sun, this is my mother."

"Nice to meet you Ms. Belladonna!" Sun said, waving.

"Please, Mr. Wukong, just call me Kali. Now both of you come in. I've got tea on the kettle already, you weren't the only guest of mine on that ship it seems."

Blake and Sun looked at each other before Sun just shrugged at her. If the other guest was on board, they had made no attempt to say hello to them the whole journey.

Kali steered Blake and Sun to the dining room, speaking as she opened the door. "Ghira, we have two more guests.

Ghira, the taller man dressed in a purple robe at the table looked up and just froze. "Blake?"

Blake felt a wave of nervousness nearly swipe her off her feet, she hadn't seen her father in years at this point, and their last meeting had not ended happily. "H-Hi dad."

"P-please." The air loosened when they realised that they were both nervous. "Sit down Blake." Blake and Sun sat down, and Ghira just smiled at Blake before eyeing Sun. "So… who's this you brought Blake?"

"Oh him? A stowaway friend of mine-" Blake started before getting cut off.

"My name is Sun Wukong sir!" Sun said, beaming towards the tall faunus. "Nice to meet you!" Sun pulled out his hand and offered it up for a handshake to Ghira.

"Nice to meet you too..." Ghira said, clearly showing that he wasn't in the mood to shake hands with Sun as Blake just shook her head.

Kali cut in, clearing her throat a little to catch their attention as she joined them at the table. "I assume our other guest is tending to the tea?"

Ghira nodded. "She offered to grab the tea while you went for the door, dear. She should be out soon unless you want to-" Ghira was cut off by another door opening and Ghira turning. "And there she is."

Standing there was the woman they had seen on the ship, now dressed in a white yukata and carrying the tray of tea. 'Summer' Blake thought, thinking back to the fight with the Seal Feilong. "Oh hello again." Summer said, placing down the tray onto the table.

"Hello Miss Summer!" Sun cheerfully answered.

Blake glanced up and down Summer, still unnerved by how uncanny the semblance between Summer and Ruby Rose was, her attention was caught however by her mother speaking. "Oh I guess you three met on the ship?" Summer and Blake nodded. "Well, Blake dear, this huntress here, I babysat years ago, her name is _Summer Rose_ , she's quite-"

Blake nearly slammed her fist onto the table at those words. "Famous at Beacon? Yeah I know. Her _daughter_ is my team leader."

That caused tension around the room for a moment, before Summer spoke. "Look...I'm not going to beat around the bush. Yes, I'm Ruby's mother, Blake. But…-" Summer sighed some more before taking a deep breath and taking a sip of tea. "-I was captured on a mission and spent the last decade detained for years, I'll admit I barely got out."

That only led to a few gasps from the group. "So Blake, do you see why I didn't stay?" Blake hesitated before nodding, as Summer kept speaking. "It was better at the time to disappear into the wind again, then to waltz right in."

Summer just took a breath. "Besides, she already has someone in her life to do that to her, it wouldn't be fair to her to have me do that to her as well."

Blake looked over to Summer. "Her uncle: Qrow Branwen, right?"

Summer nodded. "Yes, Qrow." Summer just smiled softly at her husband's mention. "He's not actually _her_ uncle, but it's a role he drifted into over time. He might not seem like a family man, but it didn't take our team to find out we could depend on him to come through for us, and by extension, your teammates Blake."

Blake just nodded. "Yang told me of a few stories about him." her parents just looked on, unsure how to add to the conversation.

Sun tried to smile. "Qrow Branwen? Yeah I've sort of heard of him? He's a famous Huntsman from Beacon right?"

Summer nodded to Sun. "Yep, he was the final member of Team STRQ, which was led by myself, and our other two members were Yang's parents." Summer took a breath before deciding to sip on her tea. "And if Qrow is exactly how he was when I got captured by that crazy scientist?"

Summer looked at the table, she hadn't realized it but she had taken the spotlight from the family, but all eyes were on her which caused her to panic slightly. "We-well. If I can, may I go get some honey? So I can leave you four to talk?"

Kali nodded as she finally poured herself a cup of tea. "The honey is in the cabinet dear."

"Thanks!" Summer said, dropping her cup on the table and teleporting out of the room.

Kali just sighed. "Even as an adult she still reminds me of her childhood self." she just giggled to herself for a moment before looking at her daughter, there was a lot to talk about, as the conversation shifted to a darker tone. "You know Blake, we were horrified when we heard the news about the fall. The Kingdom of Vale isn't perfect by any means, but it certainly didn't deserve what happened to Beacon. Oh, we were both so worried."

Ghira only laughed as he crossed his arms. "Please, I knew she would be fine, Kali!"

Kali only scoffed at her husband's comment. "That isn't the slightest bit true, Ghira and you know it!" she smiled and turned to her daughter and Sun. "You should have seen him pacing around the house when we saw the news feed cut that night."

Blake just smiled a little at that, it was reassuring to know her parents still cared for her like this, and was happy that they had both accepted her back in so far. There was a part of her mind that was finally being reawakened, she could be safe at home again.

* * *

"So, what brought you here, Oscar?"

A tray was put in front of the young boy, who had gotten comfy into a very worn chair. There stood before him was his step-grandmother, who was walking back to her own chair, next to him.

"I… I came to see you, Abuela." Oscar spoke out trying to smile hopefully.

"Well I expected that, Oscar." Oscar's grandmother, Maria, took a sip of her tea. "I'll admit this has been sudden, and normally you would mail or even call me before whatever happened in Vale, but you did not."

"I-" Oscar sighed. "I was in a bit of a rush to get here Abuela." There was no reason not to tell his grandmother that at least.

Maria just responded by bonking him on the forehead with her skulled cane, which left a soft mark on his head. "But why." Maria looked at him smiling. "Most people either come to me for something I have, or what I feel like you're doing, is needing a place for a few nights."

Oscar hesitated for a moment. ' _Tell her what you think is best Oscar._ ' Oz's voice rang out in Oscar's head as he took a breath. "Yes, I…after the Fall of Beacon, I've kinda felt there's more I can do for the world than be a farmer, if that makes sense Abuela?"

Maria sighed, looking at him with her metal goggles. Oscar swore she was trying to strike as far as she could into his soul itself. "Oh Oscar…. You believe you have a higher calling?"

Oscar nodded. "I-I want to be a huntsman."

Maria just bonked him again on the head. "Now dear, was that so hard to tell your grandma?" She gave herself a little laugh. "Then, you're here for the Academy aren't you? You're still like four years still too young aren't you?"

"Three, abuela." Oscar smiled at that comment. "But no, I learned with help from some 'helpful' huntsman, that Qrow Branwen has a house here in Mistral, and was hoping I could eventually meet him and see if he would take me under his wing so to speak."

Maria just looked at him, "Really now? That Huntsman isn't wrong. I know for a fact Mr. Branwen lives here."

Oscar's eyes lit up in excitement. "You do?"

"Of course, I am a huntress after all, while I'm long retired, I kept tabs on who's living on my street if there's ever a Grimm attack, now more than ever, Ozzy. While I know he 'lives' here, he's rarely ever around, maybe once a year to check in on his property."

"And you know this how?" Oscar asked with a smile.

"Deary, I've met the man before, he's one of my neighbors." Maria said, smiling at him. "But Ozzy, before you can even try to talk to him, you need practice. As a former huntress, it's my duty Oscar to train you the best I can, this way when I find Qrow for you, you'll be ready."

"You're gonna find Qrow for me?"

Maria nodded. "I'll try dear, but now, I need to know, what fighting style do you use?"

Oscar looked at her clearly confused, and both Ozpin and Maria sighed, this was gonna take a while.

* * *

Summer was outside, walking aimlessly around the Belladonna Estate and the plaza before it. She was lost in thought, she had told Blake and her family her whole business on a whim and needed time to recoup. She had told basically near strangers about her detaining, and needed a breath of fresh air.

The open gardens outfront by the stairs seemed to be a good place to rest, only to hear the estate door slam above her. Looking up to the mansion she spotted two cloaked figures starting to move down the stairs. Summer quietly took a breath and moved to a spot where she couldn't be seen, Ghira had not mentioned any other visitors before Blake and that monkey boy she had in tow arrived.

"Well, brother. That was clearly an interesting development." One voice rang out.

"Interesting indeed brother. There are changes in how we're gonna plan out things." A second voice chimed in after the first in the exact same tone of voice, a tone of voice Summer would refer to belonging to a cult.

Summer tried not to gasp as she listened in, these people clearly meant business. 'The White Fang I assume?' Summer thought to herself as the 'brothers' spoke more.

"Yes brother, we shall need to inform Brother Adam of Ms. Belladonna's arrival here." One 'brother' spoke out, clearly still oblivious to Summer's location.

"Oh we shall, Sister Ilia will be pleased to hear Former Sister Blake is back on the island for a foreseeable period."

Summer watched as the figures started to walk away, having finally reached the bottom of the staircase. Summer waited until they were far enough away to start walking again. She decided to wait a few minutes before reentering the house the way she had left, stopping to see Kali in the kitchen.

"Hello Summer, I assume you took a walk around the gardens, after I didn't find you here?" Kali said with a warm smile. "I found the honey myself."

Summer just tried to smile at that. "Thank you Kali…" Summer slowed down to take a breath. "I just have had a lot on my plate and needed the fresh air, yes. Plus well, I need to get used to this place."

"I understand, I figure my daughter's the same way, actually. She's always needed to get used to a place before relaxing down, makes her way too alert when visiting places.

Summer nodded. "Yeah… speaking of being alert, who were those two towns folk who came to visit when I was outside? I saw them leaving." Summer decided to spare Kali of what they had said, concerned still.

"Oh them? They're the Albain twins." Kali's voice only grew tenser by the word. "Menagerie's leaders of the White Fang branch stationed here, after Sienna Khan relocated to somewhere in Mistral."

"I heard... So what did they wish to discuss? I assume the Fall of Beacon and the White Fang's involvement?" Summer questioned, she assumed so but had to make sure.

Kali only nodded. "They… brushed it off but Blake was having none of it, did you see the White Flag at Beacon too?"

Summer just frowned. "I did, but not just them, but androids I had sold them for money, you recall I had been detained? I hijacked a ship full of androids, Kali to flee but… I should have turned them into Oz instead of-" Summer was only stopped by Kali hugging her.

"Summer, you did that under a pretense you had from 10 years ago, you were not aware of the changes, and I would believe the White Fang took advantage of that, now please, you need some rest too. Otherwise we can go see what Ghira or Blake's buddy are doing."

Summer smiled at that. "Yeah, I actually would like to go see what they're doing, then go take a nap myself."

Kali only smiled at Summer before picking up a tray with tea on it. "Come on then." she said as the two mothers left the kitchen and walked toward Ghira's study. Both minds still wrapping around what's happened within the last few months, and how the White Fang has radically changed.

Kali moved the door open to see Blake and Sun sitting and discussing with Ghira already.

"I don't trust them." Blake said gritting her teeth.

"Talking about the Albain twins already, Blake?" Kali said smiling as she put down the tea and brought Ghira a cup. "Here dear."

Ghira looked up from his seat at his wife and the tea she had brought. "Thank you Kali, and yes we were discussing them, dear." Ghira said with quite a stern look and accompanying frown on his face.

"As I said, those guys are clearly creepy." Sun pointed out the obvious, based on everyone else's reactions to him saying that.

"Sun, we figured that out already." Blake said, rolling her eyes, then turning to Summer, her eyes clearly telling that she still wished to yell at Summer but instead turned to her father. "Their voices sounded-"

"They sounded like they belonged to a cult right?" Summer cut off Blake who only nodded.

"Yeah." Summer could tell Blake had quite a distaste in her voice.

Summer sighed. "I heard them talking once the door closed, as I was outside. Whatever you told them, they did not like it."

Sun smiled. "Blake and Ghira both got quite mad at them, after Ghira learned what happened at Beacon!" All eyes turned to him, with Ghira only sighing.

"Summer, did they say anything?" Ghira questioned, turning to the wolf faunus.

Summer watched the spotlight shift back to her, but nodded. "I would not trust the White Fang, I believe they're trying to persuade you the same way they persuaded me back in Vale. Promising one thing, but twisting it in their favor… they mentioned they have _plans_ that they want to change now with Blake here."

"So they're being reckless then?" Kali said, trying to look further into Summer's words.

Summer only shook her head. "They mentioned they needed to inform a 'Brother Adam' and the only one I know of is the one that I sold damn robots to in exchange for cash back in Vale under the belief they're the same one I remembered. No, I believe they're following Adam's orders."

Ghira nodded. "It's disheartening to hear, but everything is pointing to it, but we can't do anything without evidence, hard evidence."

Blake sighed. "Right dad…"

Summer frowned. "Although… I do have a question, who is Ilia?"

Blake's ears dropped and curled, clearly a wound was being opened, Summer reflected to herself when she realized. "Ilia… was my best friend in the White Fang, until she was reassigned back here, we did every mission together for Adam and Sienna… she was like a sister to me."

Summer sighed. "I… can understand your pain." Summer's mind only thought of Raven, and the words Summer had for her, if they ever crossed paths again.

"Did they mention if they had any plans involving her?" Blake questioned, trying not to grow angrier.

Summer shook her head. "No, they only mentioned that she will be pleased you're here, perhaps they want one of you to find the other, but that's me."

Blake sighed. "Well, if I'm needed I'm gonna be in my room, alright?" Without another word Blake walked out of the room, trying to avoid eye contact with any of them. She needed time to think over everything.

* * *

Blake was sitting on her bed when she heard a knock on the door. "Come in." Blake said nonchalantly, not even looking up until Summer had appeared before her. "Oh it's you, what do you need."

Summer smiled as she put down a box of books. "I… I found this in Vale while I was there, they're all for you."

"For me?" Blake said looking at the box, sure enough on the label read her name. "It's…-"

Summer looked down. "From Tukson, I know. I looked around his place when I arrived in Vale, to find that he had been murdered. I miss him Blake, he… he was my friend in the White Fang, back when I went to some of your father's earliest ones."

"You went to his rallies?" Blake questioned out loud, her eyes lighting up a little.

"Yes, I didn't go to many, only about five total over time?" Summer said, trying to smile. "But, I got introduced to it through Tukson and… I want to make his killers pay as much as you do."

Blake looked at her. "I have a feeling Tukson's killers were paid by the White Fang… he had told me he was planning to move to Vacuo the last time I had met him…"

"I…" Summer smiled at herself. "Then let's both try to work towards taking the White Fang down once and for all, I'm sure I still can pull connections when I'm back on the mainland, did you know I was friends with Leonardo Lionheart, Haven's Lion Faunus Headmaster… if he's still alive-"

Blake cut Summer off. "He is, under his guidance, Haven has become a much safer pick for Faunus to go over Atlas."

"Oh tell me, I would have been bullied if I had stayed with my mother in Atlas, Blake, why do you think I took to Beacon, much like yourself?" Summer said smiling at the younger faunus before her.

"You're Atlesian?" Blake questioned, her eyes lighting up further.

Summer just giggled a little. "Born and raised not too far from the main airport for Mantle, in the richest neighborhood in Mantle, but yet, although as much as Atlas tried, my family brought me to Beacon and honestly, if I hadn't gone to Beacon, I would have never met my team, and Blake?"

"Yes?"

"They will have your back as long as you do the same. Now please, read over what Tukson gave to you, for him." Summer patted Blake's arm as she got up. "You know where I'll be."

Blake nodded as Summer closed the door on herself, taking a deep breath she walked towards the guest quarters and wondered just what Qrow was doing at that very moment, she missed him, and she knew he missed her. She knew it was only time until they crossed paths again.


End file.
